Whatever happened to Safari, Ltd. ?

Went to a Michael's Art Store to see which Safari figurines were available. I was really hoping just to find one in particular - the new gila monster. Frankly, I was stunned at how crappy most of the figurines on display looked. No gila monster, either...

I felt sad to see this, as I've always admired the design and manufacture of their wildlife figurines, generally. Anyone else feel this way?

Last time I visited my local Michael's, they had none of the 2013 releases (I went in late 2013) and I'm doubting if I were to go again soon they wouldn't have any of the 2014 releases either. They did have some things on clearance so maybe they were trying to get something new in stock. I do agree that the condition of the figures weren't the best last time I went. Most of them were scratched, had paint rubs and the paint job wasn't all that great. Even though I do use a 40% off coupon, I didn't think any of the figures were even worth paying for.

Last time I visited my local Michael's, they had none of the 2013 releases (I went in late 2013) and I'm doubting if I were to go again soon they wouldn't have any of the 2014 releases either. They did have some things on clearance so maybe they were trying to get something new in stock. I do agree that the condition of the figures weren't the best last time I went. Most of them were scratched, had paint rubs and the paint job wasn't all that great. Even though I do use a 40% off coupon, I didn't think any of the figures were even worth paying for.

This's so familiar... Nowadays I want to buy brand new figures from internet. I don't like that kids are playing with them in the stores

_________________Jonas

I might be an awkward person but that's me and I'm not gonna change myself

Last time I visited my local Michael's, they had none of the 2013 releases (I went in late 2013) and I'm doubting if I were to go again soon they wouldn't have any of the 2014 releases either. They did have some things on clearance so maybe they were trying to get something new in stock. I do agree that the condition of the figures weren't the best last time I went. Most of them were scratched, had paint rubs and the paint job wasn't all that great. Even though I do use a 40% off coupon, I didn't think any of the figures were even worth paying for.

This's so familiar... Nowadays I want to buy brand new figures from internet. I don't like that kids are playing with them in the stores

Sometimes you can get ones like that even if you buy them online I've been lucky with anything I've bought recently, but it has happened to me in the past. Then the store makes it so difficult for you to exchange it and some charge you a re-stocking fee

I also misunderstood your introduction, I was not even 100% sure you were talking about Safari or other figures in that shop and disappointed with the lack of Safari. Now I believe you want to say that Safari figures, when displayed in local shops, look disappointing in quality when compared with other brands. Is it? I only knew a single local shop displaying only Safari figures, they were not very organized, many were scratched and the range available was out of date. Also, their kind of tags and disparity of sizes don't contributed to a good looking. With that single experience, I must say that between Schleich, Papo, Bullyland, CollectA, Mojo and Safari, the brand that gave me the poorest impression in local shop displays, it was Safari for sure. However, I absolutly love their figures and I think their range is the most interesting in terms of educational purposes.

I also misunderstood your introduction, I was not even 100% sure you were talking about Safari or other figures in that shop and disappointed with the lack of Safari. Now I believe you want to say that Safari figures, when displayed in local shops, look disappointing in quality when compared with other brands. Is it? I only knew a single local shop displaying only Safari figures, they were not very organized, many were scratched and the range available was out of date. Also, their kind of tags and disparity of sizes don't contributed to a good looking. With that single experience, I must say that between Schleich, Papo, Bullyland, CollectA, Mojo and Safari, the brand that gave me the poorest impression in local shop displays, it was Safari for sure. However, I absolutly love their figures and I think their range is the most interesting in terms of educational purposes.

Sorry for not being clear in my initial post. It's bad enough that Schleich has gone into the toilet the last few years; it's even worse if Safari, Ltd. quality is declining also. When I first started collecting again as an adult (2007), Schleich and Safari were my two favorite manufacturers. Now, I'm not sure if I'd put either in my top five.

I have older wildlife figurines by Safari that I collected on an ad hoc basis, but I just think that the choice and execution of painting job on some new figurines is not on the same level as it used to be. Maybe I will change my mind when I see all of the new 2014 Safaris in person, but I rather doubt it. I've always wanted to see another peccary figurine, but the new Safari is dreadful, IMHO...

Susanne, thank you for posting these photos, as they exemplify what has been bothering me about the new stuff. It's not like the cape buffalo, okapi, scimitar-horned oryx, etc. classics of the recent past...

What I'm seeing now is sloppy, careless, almost cartoonish paint jobs on otherwise generally good figurines...those dachsunds look like they just stepped out of a Scooby-Doo cartoon...

I agree, I think that the sculpts are generally great figures. However, the recent paintjobs are sloppy and terrible. If they would just take two seconds and a paintbrush they wouldn't be as bad (I.e. the raven looks to be webbed footed because of the rock etc.). I like the company still and sculpts but not the paintjobs. P.S. Schleich61, great use of a fallacy. I learned them in school and since my teacher has drilled them into my brain I use them all the time and people don't know what I'm talking about.

_________________-"I loathe people who keep dogs. They are cowards who haven’t got the guts to bite people themselves."-August Strindberg (However, anyone who knows me knows I love dogs [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] )-“We can try to kill all that is native, string it up by its hind legs for all to see, but spirit howls and wildness endures.”-Anonymous

I agree, I think that the sculpts are generally great figures. However, the recent paintjobs are sloppy and terrible. If they would just take two seconds and a paintbrush they wouldn't be as bad (I.e. the raven looks to be webbed footed because of the rock etc.). I like the company still and sculpts but not the paintjobs. P.S. Schleich61, great use of a fallacy. I learned them in school and since my teacher has drilled them into my brain I use them all the time and people don't know what I'm talking about.

I agree, I think that the sculpts are generally great figures. However, the recent paintjobs are sloppy and terrible. If they would just take two seconds and a paintbrush they wouldn't be as bad (I.e. the raven looks to be webbed footed because of the rock etc.). I like the company still and sculpts but not the paintjobs. P.S. Schleich61, great use of a fallacy. I learned them in school and since my teacher has drilled them into my brain I use them all the time and people don't know what I'm talking about.

No, no, no, no, no. I didn't mean you made a fallacy of thought, I meant you used a word that had an alternate meaning that I wasn't familiar with. Ad Hoc, or more commonly known as a Hasty Generalization is a fallacy of thought (my teacher has been teaching us common fallacies so we can "argue" effectively). It means that people make false statements making their argument pointless. I guess I should have been more clear, what I meant is that I didn't understand why you were putting "ad hoc" in your other comment, so I looked it up for alternant meanings and you taught me a new one that my teacher at school didn't mention. Sorry to cause worry or confusion, I meant for it to a be a good thing. Again, sorry to be confusing and cause it. guess I'm really tired and need to catch up on sleep now so I don't distract from the boards...

_________________-"I loathe people who keep dogs. They are cowards who haven’t got the guts to bite people themselves."-August Strindberg (However, anyone who knows me knows I love dogs [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] )-“We can try to kill all that is native, string it up by its hind legs for all to see, but spirit howls and wildness endures.”-Anonymous

Phil (and Paige): I may be wrong, but I think Paige was referring to the use of the expression 'ad hoc'. I've heard the expression 'ad hoc fallacy' to refer to the mistake of citing a reason one wouldn't ordinarily endorse purely for the sake of trying to defend one's current position. I'm sure there are other fallacies people have used the name 'ad hoc fallacy' to refer to. (I'm not saying that's what you were doing. I understood you to be using 'ad hoc' in the ordinary sense, unrelated to any fallacy of reasoning.) Anyway, my apologies to Paige if I misunderstood her point. Oops. Paige answered your question while I was drafting mine.

Back to the main thread, I agree entirely about Safari Phil. I was extremely disappointed with their figures last year. The Elk was okay, but Safari can do better than okay. This year, I got both the birds Susanne mentioned above and, just as she points out, the paintwork is poor (or nonexistent) despite the fact that they are nice sculpts.

I think it's a whole lot of animals with errors of paint, it must wait to buy or try to buy at another store, I only buy on Ebay and animals arrive home in sealed plastic bag. In Stores the person's children often play with the animals.

I agree, I think that the sculpts are generally great figures. However, the recent paintjobs are sloppy and terrible. If they would just take two seconds and a paintbrush they wouldn't be as bad (I.e. the raven looks to be webbed footed because of the rock etc.). I like the company still and sculpts but not the paintjobs. P.S. Schleich61, great use of a fallacy. I learned them in school and since my teacher has drilled them into my brain I use them all the time and people don't know what I'm talking about.

No, no, no, no, no. I didn't mean you made a fallacy of thought, I meant you used a word that had an alternate meaning that I wasn't familiar with. Ad Hoc, or more commonly known as a Hasty Generalization is a fallacy of thought (my teacher has been teaching us common fallacies so we can "argue" effectively). It means that people make false statements making their argument pointless. I guess I should have been more clear, what I meant is that I didn't understand why you were putting "ad hoc" in your other comment, so I looked it up for alternant meanings and you taught me a new one that my teacher at school didn't mention. Sorry to cause worry or confusion, I meant for it to a be a good thing. Again, sorry to be confusing and cause it. guess I'm really tired and need to catch up on sleep now so I don't distract from the boards...

Oh, okay, Paige, I'm quite relieved to read your reply. I was worried I had made a critical error in what I had originally posted...